Stablecoin payment flows could tap $56.6 trillion by 2030, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, a rise that would make stablecoins one of the most important payment tools in global finance.
Flows totaled $2.9 trillion in 2025, Bloomberg data shows, implying growth of around 80% annually over the five years to 2030 if the projection is realized — a rise driven by increasing institutional adoption and growing use of stablecoins in economies facing inflation and financial instability.
USDT is dominating CeFi, but USDC is winning DeFi
Bloomberg noted that Tether (USDT) continues to be the most used stablecoin for everyday payments, business transactions and as a savings vehicle, while Circle’s USDC (USDC) stablecoin is the most preferred on decentralized finance platforms.
Stablecoin flows rose 81% year-on-year in 2025; however, the share of volume on decentralized crypto platforms fell, Bloomberg reported, citing data from crypto analytics platform Artemis.
Artemis co-founder Anthony Yim attributed this shift to the growth in US dollar stablecoin usage in emerging economies as they continue to navigate an “increasingly unstable geopolitical landscape.”
Despite the shift, USDC still recorded higher transaction volume, reaching $18.3 trillion in 2025 compared with USDT’s $13.3 trillion.
The two stablecoins accounted for more than 95% of the record $33 trillion in transaction volume last year, which marked a 72% year-on-year increase.
USDT continues to dominate the market from a valuation perspective, however, boasting a $186.9 billion market cap compared with USDC’s $74.9 billion.
Related: Nexo to offer zero-interest crypto lending for BTC and ETH holders
The stablecoin market currently sits at $312 billion, with the US Treasury estimating in April that it would reach $2 trillion by 2028.
Adoption at nation-state and institutional level
Since US President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law in July, Canada and the UK have renewed efforts to implement stablecoin frameworks in 2026 or the near future, potentially signalling a broader movement to integrate stablecoins into mainstream finance worldwide.
Meanwhile, institutional adoption is ramping up, with remittance platform Western Union set to launch a stablecoin settlement system on the Solana blockchain sometime in the first half of 2026, while MoneyGram and Zelle are also rolling out stablecoin solutions to fuel faster cross-border payments.
Magazine: How crypto laws changed in 2025 — and how they’ll change in 2026
